Tube cities on the Moon possible – study
A new study suggests large empty pockets beneath the Moon’s crust – caused by the eruptions of longextinct volcanoes – could offer humans shelter from the deadly low temperatures and radiation of the surface, while being stable enough to house buildings.
Of all the potential uses for hollowed-out domes beneath the Moon’s surface (penal colony for fulltime criminals, secret dwelling for mole people, high-tech super-villain hide-out), human cities are probably the most beneficial to us as a species, and a team of researchers from Purdue University in the United States says it’s theoretically possible.
‘‘We found that if lunar lava tubes existed with a strong arched shape like those on Earth, they would be stable at sizes up to 5000 metres [wide],’’ says graduate student David Blair, who led the study.
‘‘This wouldn’t be possible on Earth, but gravity is much lower on the Moon and lunar rock doesn’t have to withstand the same weathering and erosion. In theory, huge lava tubes – big enough to easily house a city – could be structurally sound on the Moon.’’
A lava tube 5000 metres wide would be large enough to house a colony bigger than the CBD of Sydney or Melbourne.
The researchers’ suppositions about lunar lava tubes are based on the large, river-like grooves visible on the Moon’s surface, which are thought to have been caused by the flow of lava from ancient volcanoes.
Purdue’s Jay Melosh, professor of Earth, atmospheric and planetary sciences, presented the theory at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in Texas and explains that, on Earth, a strong crust forms around a flowing river of lava as the edges cool during volcanic eruptions, and once the eruption is over the lava drains to leave a hollow cavern with strong edges.
Judging from the apparent lava grooves (or ‘‘sinuous rilles’’) on the Moon’s surface, Melosh says the tubes inside the Moon ‘‘might be really big’’.
Assuming the team’s theory about the tubes’ stability proves true – and assuming the caverns aren’t already occupied by Transformers, wizards, or Nazis as various pieces of recent pop-fiction might suggest – the protection from asteroids, radiation and harsh elements offered by lava tubes could make Moon colonisation possible.
Meanwhile, Dutch organisation Mars One is pushing ahead with its plans to colonise the red planet, plans many in the science community remain sceptical about.